‘Knockaround’: We Can’t Help But Love These Cheap, Custom Sunglasses

Knockaround is known for offering quality shades with eye-catching graphics — and at a fair price. And now it’s got new custom styles.

Knockaround recently made updates to its custom sunglasses design shop, and the results are pretty cool. Two of our editors got a sneak peek at the custom platform and some test shades this past week.

We ordered two different frame styles and completely different designs. One of us had worn several pairs of Knockarounds before, but the other was totally new to the brand.

We both agreed the frames are comfortable, our chosen frames fit our faces well, and the customizable options are worth dropping budget-friendly $35(-ish) bucks on.

Knockaround Sunglasses: The Basics

Knockaround boasts more than 300 different sunglass combos pre-designed on its site. But if you can’t find what you want, it has a Custom Shop as well. And trust us, there’s no shortage of options: 14 different frame styles (plus two goggle styles), more than 40 frame colors and patterns, and more than 30 lens options.

The Knockaround Custom Shop lets you customize six of the brand’s most popular frame styles, with just as many choices as above for the colors and patterns of your frames, arms, accent logo, and lenses.

We not only liked the rainbow array of colors (and actual rainbow pattern), but the deal is even sweeter with new options like “sport mode,” an upgraded frame with grippy nose pads for better performance during activity. Sports mode is available with two of the six custom styles.

Custom Knockaround Sunglasses: The Verdict

The power to choose is a real perk. And all Knockaround customs are under $40. That’s a crazy-good price, but we wanted to make sure the shades offered great fit, style, and comfort along with their sweet price point.

Best of all, despite the thousands of choices at your fingertips, the process to design custom Knockarounds isn’t complicated. When you enter the shop, simply choose one of the six frame styles.

Each frame has a base price point, and most customizations — like patterned frames and blue-light-blocking or impact-resistant lenses — are free. (Polarized lenses will cost an extra $5.)

Then, you can customize the frame color or pattern, both arms, lenses, add the new sport mode (which our author recommends), and more. Knockaround also offers both glossy and matte frames, so you can choose whichever fits your style best.

If you have absolutely no clue what you want, let the Custom Shop choose for you with its “randomize” button. It mixes and matches frame and lens combinations to give you a bit of inspiration.

Our recommendation: Check out the bolder patterns, like Retro Rainbow or Mighty Mint, and more unique polarization colors, like Green Moonshine and Rose Gold.

To be sure, these are not luxury lenses. The frames and lenses are plastic, and the overall construction is no-frills. But for the price and the array of unique styles, Knockarounds are fun to wear and functional for casual exploits.

We noticed that Knockaround also provides great advice on fit. Its custom page lists which styles are better for smaller-framed faces, and which are better for wider faces. Plus, you have access to customer feedback from over 1,000 reviews.

Our editors also noted that the display on screen accurately reflected the physical product in terms of both color and frame style. All in all, our editors really enjoyed rocking these shades around the office, on morning runs, and more. They definitely live up to the name — they are knockarounds.

And in terms of what you get, we think it’d be tough to find a better pair of sunglasses out there for the price.

Bonus: Watch for Knockaround‘s next sitewide 25% off sale over Labor Day.

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